Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 90: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans to reform the eligibility criteria for disability allowance so that all people with a mental illness or disability in hospital and residential care who have the same medical and financial circumstances are treated equally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10950/06]

Gay Mitchell (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 96: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the success of the introduction of the disability allowance expenses payment in replacing the pocket money allowances; the success of the payment in ensuring all people with a disability or mental illness in hospital or in residential care, who meet the medical and financial qualifying conditions, are in receipt of some form of social welfare payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10949/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 90 and 96 together.

Responsibility for the disabled person's maintenance allowance, DPMA, scheme was transferred from the Department of Health and Children and the health boards to my Department in October 1996. On transfer of the scheme, the existing qualifying conditions were retained and the scheme was re-named disability allowance. One of the qualifying conditions applying to the former DPMA scheme was that the payment could not be made to people who were in residential care where the cost of the person's maintenance was being met in whole or in part by a health board.

Since the takeover of the scheme by my Department, the restrictions on payment to persons in residential care have been progressively relaxed and from 1999, disability allowance recipients who had been living at home could retain their entitlement on entering a hospital or residential care. In budget 2005, I took a decisive step towards the eventual removal of disqualification for receipt of disability allowance due to residential care with the introduction of the disability allowance, personal expenses rate, effective from June 2005. This new payment, in effect, replaced the former pocket money or spending allowances provided by the Health Service Executive to people who were in residential care since prior to August 1999 at a higher and consistent rate of €35 per week.

Following the introduction of the measure, there are now over 2,800 who meet the qualifying conditions for this payment and are now in receipt of the disability allowance, personal expenses rate. This level of uptake reflects the success of this payment in ensuring that people with a disability who are in residential care since prior to 1999 are no longer disqualified from receiving a social welfare payment. Persons with a disability in residential care who are over 66 years of age and who have been in receipt of either full rate disability allowance if they entered residential care since 1999 or the disability personal expenses rate may then qualify for the old age pension. There are no restrictions on this payment due to residential care.

I intend to move beyond payment of partial disability allowance, personal expenses rate, payment and to remove all remaining restrictions on persons in residential care so as to make them eligible for the full disability allowance, subject only to the same conditions as apply to others. There are a number of practical and administrative issues to be resolved in this regard, including the need to avoid any duplicate funding, and my Department is progressing these issues with the Department of Health and Children. My Department has been in contact with the Department of Health and Children to expedite this.